Chapter Nine

Day 12

10:00 p.m.

The Forbidden Forest

"You do know that there are dangerous creatures out here. Right?" Harry asked nervously, sticking as close to his Sire's side as possible without getting in his way.

"Childe," Spike said calmly if not a little humorously. "We are one of those 'dangerous creatures' you know. I don't know many demons that would attack two powerful Master Vampires, and I doubt ours differ from yours."

"But you've never come across 'our' kind of beasts I bet." Spike tilted his head.

"Well we'll just have to come across one and see then, won't we?" Spike growled softly. "And if they have the knackers to challenge us then we'll show them a thing or two." He swung his fists in the air and Harry chuckled nervously.

"Spike, you're childe is right. I think this is deep enough. I for one don't want to run into anything we might not be able to handle." Spike snorted but they stopped, and Angel turned to Harry to explain a few things to him about the vampiric senses. "A true blooded Childe will always be able to find his or her Sire. They'll also always be able to find the closest members of their Clan, and will be able to sense when another vampire is nearby, what rank that vampire is, and what Clan their from."

"So for your first test I'll be hiding close by. You'll have to use all of your senses: hearing, smell, and internal senses like your gut feeling to find me. As soon as you can locate me at any distance, although I won't be going very far because I don't know my way around, you'll have to look for Angel." Spike said.

"Right." Harry nodded. Angel covered his eyes and ears with a cloth charmed to block sight and sound and Spike took off into the woods. Harry counted to ten and Angel removed the cloth. Immediately not seeing his Sire, Harry closed his eyes and focused one his other senses to guide him.

"Think of one sense at a time and if you can use it, do so. When you no longer can think of another. If you find yourself stuck then turn inside." Angel said from the side. Harry frowned in confusion but nodded. He strained his ears first, listening for any sign of his blond Sire. But since the vampire neither breathed nor had a heartbeat he moved quickly through the other obviously useless senses like touch and feel.

The final sense he could use before trying the 'inside' thing Angel was talking about, was smell. So he took a deep breath and was hit with the aroma of woods and animals. He nearly staggered and glared at the smirking Angel. "You haven't been breathing since Spike turned you." Angel commented. "You should start. It'll get you used to the enhanced smell, and it'll make you seem more human."

"Uhm…yeah sure." This time when Harry went to breathe he took a little sniffle. Once again he was bombarded with the smells, but now he expected them and got used to them rather quickly.

It was surprisingly easy to find his Sire. The vampire smelled like leather and tobacco, two smells that did not belong in any forest. There was also a unique smell that was also coming from himself and Angel. "What is it?" He asked Angel. "The smell coming from all three of us? It smells like old socks."

"That's the unique scent of the vampire." Angel said. "We all smell that way. If you concentrate harder on the smell you'll also smell something else…"

"Strawberries." Harry said.

"That's what Spike thinks. That is the scent of a Clan, our Clan. I don't know why it's strawberries…." Harry nodded. Then he took off in the direction his Sire's scent was coming from. Behind him he heard Angel follow and made a little chase game out of it before he nearly ran into his Sire, who grabbed him around the middle and hefted him up.

"HEY! Put me down!" Harry laughed. Angel came to a stop beside them.

"It's not nice to make the old man run after you." Spike mock-scolded. Angel growled at Spike for the insult. The lessons then continued throughout the night, Spike and Angel alternating in hiding until Harry could successfully find both in the forest with very little effort.

That's when Angel called a halt to that lesson and they began their way back up to the castle. As they walked, Harry listened intently to Angel's explanation on his enhances senses and abilities.

The enhanced sight made it easier to spot things, anywhere and any time; especially at night. Harry's sight was way better than any cat's, magical or muggle. His sense of smell was ten times more potent than an animals as well, along with his sense of hearing.

His sense of taste wasn't so much as heightened as it was changed. He could detect any sort of taste that did not belong in what he was eating: He could detect poison in food, drink, and in blood no matter how long it had been there. Quite a nifty ability considering the fact that Voldemort had tried to poison him before.

He also learned how to hide the tell-tale bite mark that let people know the victim was killed by a vampire. At this Harry frowned and promised to never kill an innocent human. Spike wrinkled his nose at this proclamation and Angel smiled. They reached the edge of the forest and made their way up the grounds to the main gate.

0000000000

If it hadn't been for his vampiric senses Spike would never had noticed Albus Dumbledore standing in the shadows of their living room. And by the irritated look on his Sire's face, and the slightly annoyed look on his childe's face, Harry and Angel hadn't noticed him right away either.

"Did you have a good time boys?" The old man asked. Spike snickered at his bristling Sire.

"Peachy. Now what did you want?" Nope, Spike definitely did not hear the strain in his Sire's voice.

"I thought you boys would be interested in getting your tattoos." Angel frowned, and Spike perked up.

"I want to." Harry nodded.

"I don't know." Angel said. Dumbledore beamed.

"The enchantments protect you from sunlight, holy water, and crosses." The man said. Angel head snapped up in surprise.

"You weren't joking about that?" Angel asked. Spike left his Sire's side and bounded over to Dumbledore.

"I'm in. I still don't like you much though." Dumbledore chuckled.

"Even if I let you attend classes with Harry?" Spike tilted his head.

"I'm sort of getting there."

TBC

Dumbledore isn't horrible in this story, but he will probably get worse. I'm not sure yet though.